Walls, Weddings, and Riders: Philly Race 2012

I guess it’s about time for me to write up my trip to Philadelphia to see the TD International Cycling Classic. Two weekends ago, I caught a rdie up to Philly with a Twitter friend, Steph (@StephBDC), who lives in the area. This was my only my second pro race (3rd, if you count Cross Championships, like I surely do) and it was definitely the biggest one I’ve been to. The only other races I’ve been to are the Air Force Cycling Classic races in Virgina. While those are exciting, they are of a bit smaller scale. ANYWAY, this time, not only was I going to watch the race, but I was also going to volunteer. I was “roped into” volunteering by a Twitter friend, so I was going to help with one of the VIP tents. I was a bit nervous about that, but it sounded like fun!

We got to Philly on Saturday afternoon and had some time to walk around Philly before the volunteer meeting. During this sightseeing trip, we saw advertisements to visit the local penitentiary, people standing in an orderly line to take pictures with the Rocky statue, dueling wedding party pictures (okay, not dueling, but would’ve added spice if they were), and an Army transport vehicle rolling up in front of the museum steps to have their picture taken.

Orderly line for the Rocky statue

Race day was beautiful- sunny but not too hot. The main part of my volunteering job was arranging rides around the course for VIPs. They had a bunch of vans, cars and motos for the VIPs to ride in around the course, at the end of the caravan. A big perk of this job was that I got to ride in those vehicles as well! So I got to pre-ride the course before the race, ride around the course twice while the race was going on AND ride the course on a moto!! It was amazing. It really helped me get a feel for the whole race that I wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise.

Riding up Manayunk Wall

The first time we drove of Manayunk Wall, I just about died. it just keeps going and going and going and parts of it are wicked steep. I couldn’t imagine riding up it more than once! The crowds on the wall and on Lemon Hill were fantastic. They were a little weaker downtown, but I think it was because it was easier to drink and picnic at the other places.

To be honest, I didn’t pay super close attention to the races, mainly because the majority of our work took place right after the peloton went by- that’s when the cars came in and they switched passengers. I didn’t get any photos of the women’s race because it started about 10 minutes after the men and we were too busy with cars when they came around! However, by the last few laps of the men’s race, our job was done and we got the watch the end of the race inside the VIP tent. Perks!

Alexander Serebryakov takes the win

Those guys are so fucking fast and I love it. I love the pain and suffering and the way the pour all of themselves into their racing. I could just watch those guys ride all day. Although I’m sure they would prefer to not ride all day. It was a really great trip and a great race and a great experience. I was excited to meet Steph and Heidi (@heidimo6)! I’ll definitely be back next year!